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Table 1 Summary statistics of patients presenting for opioid overdose during March to August 2019 and 2020

From: Retrospective analysis of patterns of opioid overdose and interventions delivered at a tertiary hospital emergency department: impact of COVID-19

Variable

Total

n (%)

N = 68

March-to-August n (%)

P-value

2019

N = 42

2020

N = 26

Gender

 Male

32 (47.1)

17 (40.5)

15 (57.7)

0.258

 Female

36 (52.9)

25 (59.5)

11 (42.3)

Age (years) (mean ± SD)

40.6 ± 16.8

38.7 ± 16.2

43.6 ± 17.6

0.246

Arrival mode

 Ambulance

55 (80.9)

37 (88.1)

18 (69.2)

0.108

 Other

13 (19.1)

5 (11.9)

8 (30.8)

 

Nature of overdosea

 Intentional

32 (47.8)

22 (53.7)

10 (38.5)

0.336

 Unintentional

35 (52.2)

19 (46.3)

16 (61.5)

 

Opioids used in overdoseb

 Pharmaceutical

49 (72.1)

32 (76.2)

17 (65.4)

0.492

 Non-pharmaceutical

19 (27.9)

10 (23.8)

9 (34.6)

 

Drugs used in overdose

 Opioids only

23 (33.8)

18 (42.9)

5 (19.2)

0.082

 Opioids and non

45 (66.2)

24 (57.1)

21 (80.8)

 

opioids

Number of drugs consumed in overdose

 1–3

49 (72.1)

34 (81.0)

15 (57.7)

0.072

 4–7

19 (27.9)

8 (19.0)

11 (42.3)

 

Inpatient admission

 Yes

18 (26.5)

11 (26.2)

7 (26.9)

1.000

 No

50 (73.5)

31 (73.8)

19 (73.1)

 

ED and/or ambulance naloxone provided

 Yes

28 (41.2)

14 (33.3)

14 (53.8)

0.157

 No

40 (58.8)

28 (66.7)

12 (46.2)

 
  1. ED emergency department, SD standard deviation
  2. aExcluding 1 deceased patient for whom the nature of overdose was not determined
  3. bPharmaceutical opioids and opioid derivatives are classified under the Standard for the Uniform Scheduling of Medicines and Poisons (SUSMP) as Schedule 2, 3, 4 and 8, while non-pharmaceutical opioids are classified as Schedule 9